The American Culinary Federation Central Florida Chapter presented longtime restaurant critic Scott Joseph with its 2018 Achievement in Culinary Excellence Award at its annual president’s gala Sunday, Jan. 20, at Isleworth Country Club in Windermere.

Chapter president, Brian Frick, shown above with Joseph, presented the award in recognition of his work with the chapter in establishing Scott Joseph’s Sous Chef Challenge: The Next Big Thing, a cooking competition held in conjunction with the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Show at the Orange County Convention and Visitors Center.

Joseph has been reviewing restaurants in Central Florida for 31 years. He was the senior critic for the Orlando Sentinel for 20 years before forming Scott Joseph Company, which publishes the online site Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide (scottjosephorlando.com). He also serves as a consultant and recently launched Scott Joseph’s Restaurant Server Training Guide, an online resource that teaches proper skills for food service workers.

The American Culinary Federation is a national organization based in St. Augustine with chapters throughout the country, including Central Florida. It was established in 1929 to promote the professional image of American chefs worldwide through education of culinarians at all levels.

It’s time again for one of my favorite food and wine events of the year, the Field to Feast dinner featuring Disney Chefs at Long & Scott Farms in Zellwood.

It’s an open-air walkabout event with food stations set up under and around a large covered pavilion amid the various crops grown in the surrounding fields.

The 6th annual Field to Feast, sponsored by Edible Orlando with Walt Disney World Resort as a major sponsor, will be Saturday, Feb. 23, from 3 to 6 p.m. Tickets are $175 per person with proceeds going to benefit Kids Cafe Program of Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, an after-school meal service program that provides food to needy children in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties. In the past five years, the event has raised more than $100,000 for the program.

It’s starting to look like it’s going to be a race in 2019 to see which concept becomes more dominant in Central Florida, ramen or poke. Pokéworks puts its bid in with a new location in the Stonehill Plaza in Oviedo. As part of its grand opening celebration, it is offering poke bogos on Saturday, Feb. 2. Also, I’m told, the first 50 customers that day will receive “a coveted Pokéworks branded coconut.” I can’t imagine what that is and I’m afraid to meet someone who might covet one.

Kona Poké has opened in Lake Mary. It will celebrate its opening on Fri., Jan. 25, with food specials. There is no mention of coconuts.

Also Friday, Paddlefish at Disney Springs will offer Seafood Secrets Cooking Class with executive chef Steve Richard. Cooked seafood — what a concept. Cost is $60 per person. You must bring your own coconut.

Walt Disney World has announced the first three dates for its Delicious Disney Chef Series — Storytelling with Food, an ultra fine dining event that showcases the talents of the resort’s top chefs.

The first dinner will be Jan. 28 at Markham’s at Golden Oak, the exclusive community of multi-million dollar homes. Markham’s is the community’s clubhouse and private restaurant that is usually off limits to nonresidents.

Dominique Filoni, chef at Citricos at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, will lead a team of chefs in the evening’s theme: A celebration of the 60th anniversary of Sleeping Beauty. The actual menus are always a surprise, but each course will somehow be tied to an aspect of the classic animated feature. I’m going out on a limb and predicting there will be apples somewhere.

The evening begins at 6:30 p.m. with a reception followed by dinner in the elegant dining room. Tickets for this dinner are $399 per person, all inclusive. Reservations, if they are still available, may be made by calling 407-939-5773.